Composite post.



W. L. NORTHAM.

V COMPOSITE POST.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. '7, 1904.

PATENTED MAY 16, 1905.

UNITED STATES Patented. May 16, 1905.

PATENT O FICE.

COMPOSITE POST.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 790,074=,dated May 16,1905. Application filed November 7, 1904. Serial No. 231,675;

To U whom it may concern:

. Be'it known that I, WILLIE L. N ORTHAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Arlington, in the county of Bush and State of Indiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Composite Posts; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and eX- act description of the invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which forma part of this specification.-

The invention relates to posts for various purposes, to pillars and columns, and particularly to fence-posts that are'composed principally of concrete substances and of metallic material combined, the invention having particular reference 'to the metallic elements of the posts and also to the fasteners whereby fencing may be attached to fenceposts.

Objects of the invention are to provide improved metallic elements and arrangement thereof in concrete posts, so as to attain improved results, and also to simplify the 0011- struc'tion thereof and to provide improved fasteners for the fencing whereby the fencing of various kinds may be secured in various ways to the posts; and a further object is to provide fasteners from which the fencing may be removed when desired and which may be capable of securing the fencing after portions of the fasteners may have corroded and perished.

The invention consists in the novel forms and arrangement of the metallic elements in the concrete elements of the posts and in novel changeable snap-hook forms of fence-fastenelevation of the post, of which the lower portion of the body thereof is shown in section at two different planes, leaving the metallic elements intact; Fig. 6, a side elevation of one of the metallic elements of the post; Fig. 7,. an edge view of the metallic element; Fig. 8, a fragmentary perspective showing one way in which a fence-wire is secured removably to the post; Fig. 9, a fragmentary perspective showing the fence-wire permanently secured to the post, and Fig. 10 is a perspective view of one of the fence-fasteners detached from the post.

Similar reference characters in the several figures of the drawings designate corresponding elements or features.

The post comprises a concrete body part A of suitable shape, which may be composed of various kinds of plastic compositions that may be molded and subsequently become hard, and it also comprises metallic elements all alike, such as B, formed as a crooked iron rod and extending longitudinally in the body part A and covered thereby in the operation of molding the post. Any suitable number of metallic elements may be combined in a post, there being preferably two in the smaller size arranged at or near the axis of the post, four in medium size arranged in the corner portions, and six in the larger size of post arranged as indicated in Fig. 2, there being two near the axis, as B and B, and four in the corner portions, as C, G, 0 and C the four being radially disposed relativelyto the aXis of the post. The elements B and B are separated somewhat and are arranged with respect to each other as indicated in Figs. 2, 3, 1, and 5. Each element, as B, has a lug bformed at the upper end thereof, and the body of the element has a zigzag con-' formed in the face of the body to permit the operation of the tongue, there being a simi, lar recess for each tongue. Each fence-fastener as formed before being anchored in the .post while in a plastic condition comprises specifically two shanks Z4 and k, two hooks Z and Z, attached to the shanks, a loop m, at-

tached to the hooks, two tongue-shanks a and n, and a loop 0,formed integral with the shanks n and n and comprising the tongue, all of the parts of a fastener being formed integrally of a single piece of wire, which preferably is spring-Wire, all parts of which except the tongue are annealed after being formed. The snap-hook as above described is double, or specifically comprises two hooks connected at their ends by a loop 177., and the tongue is double and has an eye or loop 0 at its end, the tongue extending under the loop m between the two hooks. When desired, obviously the tongue may be annealed also, as well as the hook part, and all parts may have some degree of elastic quality, if preferred.

In practical use if the fence-wires, as p, q, r, s, t, M, and c, are so spaced that they correspond to the spacing of the fasteners that are attached to the posts the wires will be placed in the snap-hooks by simply depressing the tongues, as indicated at E in Fig. 3, and then pushed under the tongues. While so connected to the posts the wires may be stretched, and they may be detached, if occasion requires it. The wires may be permanently secured by driving the hooks toward the post, so that the loop 017. will be bent up against the post, and the hook may then be locked by bending up the tongue against the loop m, as seen in Fig. 9. In case, however, that the spacing of the fence-wires and the fasteners do not agree some of the wires may be secured to the posts as above described, while others may be held to the posts by vertical rods, as w in Fig. 1, extending through the eyes at the ends of the tongues as the wires t and a are secured below or above the fasteners, as the case may be.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1. A fence-post comprisingaconcrete body having a plurality of recesses in the front face thereof greater in height at said face than within said body, fence-fastening devices attached to the body beneath the recesses, and

tongues attached to the body and extending through the recesses and movable therein and adjacently to the fence-fastening devices.

2. In a fence-post, the combination of a concrete body provided with a pair of hooks having shanks embedded in the body one near the other, a tongue having a shank embedded in the body and movable in a plane between the two of the pair of hooks beneath the ends thereof, and a pair of metallic elements arranged at the rear of the hooks and tongues in parallel planes.

3. In a fence-post, the combination of a concrete body provided with a pair of hooks projecting separately from the body, a tongue having an eye at its end and projecting from the body in a plane between the two of the pair of hooks and movable beneath the ends thereof, and a pair of metallic elements arranged at the rear of the hooks and tongues in parallel planes.

4. In a fence-post, the combination of a concrete body having a plurality of recesses in the front face thereof, hooks attached to the body, tongues attached to the body and extending through the recesses thereof adjacent] y to the hooks, and a pair of metallic elements arranged at the rear of the hooks and tongues in planes parallel to said face.

5. In a fence-post, a concrete body provided with a pair of hooks having their ends looped together and bent over against the concrete body, and a tongue extending between the two hooks of the pair and bent over and locking the looped ends thereof against the concrete body.

6. In a fence-post, a concrete body provided with a plurality of fence-fastening devices each comprising two hooks looped together at their ends, and a tongue having an eye at its end and extending between the two hooks under the looped ends thereof, the devices being anchored in the body, in combination with a rod extending through the eyes of a plurality of the tongues between the two hooks of each device.

7. In a fence-post, a concrete body provided with a pair of hooks having their ends looped together near the concrete body, and a tongue extending beyond the concrete body and movable beneath the looped ends of the hooks, substantially as shown and described.

8. In a fence-post, the combination of a concrete body element having a plurality of recesses in a face thereof, hooks attached to the body element, and tongues attached to the body element and extending through the recesses thereof adjacently to the hooks.

9. In a fence-post, the combination of a concrete body having a plurality of recesses in the front face thereof, hooks attached to the body, tongues attached to the body and extending through the recesses thereof adjacent] y to the books, a pair of metallic elements arranged at I0 extending through the recesses thereof adjacently to the hooks, and two pairs of metallic elements arranged in planes radiating from the axis of the concrete body, substantially as shown and described.

' In testimony whereof I affix my signature in I 5 presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIE L. NORTHAM. Witnesses:

WM. H. PAYNE, E. T. SILvIUs. 

